Why stop at plastic bags and straws? The case for a global treaty banning most single-use plastics (Why stop at plastics?  Think about it…)

Bonnie’s father is an engineer for the Apollo 11 space mission. Bonnie is an engineer too, developing a model rocket that she plans to shoot high into the sky. While Baba works on the moon-landing module far away, Bonnie designs, builds, and tests her own project — with sometimes disastrous results! Throughout the process, Baba’s letters encourage her in her work, and after the astronauts return from the moon, Baba comes home in time to see Bonnie launch her amazing rocket.  Inspired by the experiences of the author’s grandfather, who helped design the space suits and life-support systems on the Apollo 11 lunar module, Bonnie’s Rocket celebrates the diverse team that contributed to one of the United States’s greatest achievements. It’s also a heartwarming father-daughter story and a terrific gift for budding engineers and space fans of all ages.

Speaking at Facilities Show in May, co-located with IFSEC International, Ozge Celik Russell, Senior Analyst, Omdia, presented on how the smart building market is moving forwards since a pause in investment in the pandemic, adding that security will play a significant part in its evolution. Julian Hall reports.  For clarity, Ozge opened up the presentation by defining the term ‘smart buildings’ – being those that deliver building services through control systems that manage building operations, known as Building Management Systems (BMS).  A BMS is a single, centralised or distributed platform that acts as the building’s artificial intelligence. These systems aggregate data from equipment and sensors across many building domains and identify trends in building use and operations, acting upon the data through programmed sequential algorithms in order to reduce energy consumption, provide security and improve occupant comfort.